Is Social Media Important for My Business?

Oh, you wanted more?

Alright, let’s dig deeper into the subject. So you have a business, and you’re trying to connect with customers. You hopefully realize that the vast majority of your potential customers are on the internet.

So you get a website that people can go to.

Now, everyone is telling you need to be on Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn and something called a Snapchat. But do you really need to be?

If you want to compete, stay relevant, maximize exposure, and increase direct customer interaction, social media is a must.

But why is social media so important?

Let’s throw out a few social media statistics:

As of 2016, at least 78% of the US population has a social network profile.

When narrowed down to young adults, it’s 90%

On Facebook, over one billion messages are exchanged per day.

Consumers say social media impacts their purchasing decisions almost as much as television.

In 2014, 67% of sales professionals said they closed at least one deal as a direct result of social media

On the B2B side, 84% of CEOs and VPs say they use social media to help make purchasing decisions.

Social media is here to stay, and it’s likely only going to become bigger in our day to day lives.

The integration of social media and business took a while to get going, understandably. Social media was originally just people interacting with other people, mostly friends and family. But over the past few years, the number of people following brands on social media has risen sharply and continues to grow.

Consumers have grown accustomed to seeing and interacting with businesses on their social media.

That doesn’t mean you have to be on everything

There are a lot of social medias out there, and while many have millions of users, that doesn’t mean your business will find traction on them. You need to figure out what social platforms make sense for your industry.

It should be said, social media is often most beneficial for B2Cs. Especially when it comes to Facebook or Instagram. These platforms are dominated by everyday people who are trying to share and interact on a personal level.

That’s not to say social media is useless for B2Bs. Twitter and in particular, LinkedIn have a lot of industry specific channels and dialogues going on at all times, resulting in great connections that can be made.

But you need to stand out.

Be branded. Look professional. Sound intelligent (or funny)

For better or worse, social media is all about style.

How you look.

How you sound.

You’ll need some cover photos and profile pictures designed. You’ll need cohesive messaging if you want to get the attention of the social media users.

If you look legit, they’ll believe you’re legit, and you might just hook them in. Humor can go a long way when it comes to social media as well. Or nostalgia. People love nostalgic things these days.

You’ll need stuff to post too

Just having a social media account isn’t going to do anything if you don’t use it. You’ll need to be active and posting. That means you’ll need something to post. Blog posts are a good place to start.

Need help getting started?

At Launch Runner, we understand the importance of social media for your business. With our services, we’ll not only create blog posts for you to share, but we can set up your social accounts and create branded images for them.

We’ll even help you figure out which social platforms will work best for you.

Contact us today to get started. We offer a variety of inbound marketing options to meet your needs.